Fact of the day

Information is the most powerful weapon.

Monday

Fact N°
2503

Sex bolsters the immune system.

According to a study conducted at Wilkes University in Pennsylvania, having sex a couple of times a week improves immune function. Researchers tested undergraduates for their levels of the antibody immunoglobulin A, which is crucial to resisting illnesses. Those who'd averaged sex less than once a week had slightly higher levels of the antibody than those who'd had none at all; sex twice a week led to a 30% increase. Those who'd had sex more than that, however, actually had lower levels of IgA than the abstainers.

Tuesday

Fact N°
2504

Positive moods tend to cause selfish behavior.

A study at the University of New South Wales engendered good moods or bad moods in 45 participants by giving them either positive or negative feedback on a cognitive test (the feedback had nothing to do with their actual performance) and gauged their moods with a questionnaire. They then gave the participants 10 raffle tickets for a $20 prize and suggested that they share them with the others. Happier people were more likely to keep the tickets for themselves. In further studies, people in a negative mood were more thoughtful and attentive, while happier people were more likely to make snap judgments.

Wednesday

Fact N°
2505

A Nashville software developer has developed an app that functions as a visual breathalyzer.

The BreathalEyes App, developed by Xplor Apps, approximates a person's blood-alcohol content by monitoring his or her eye movements. Using a phone's camera, the app measures horizontal gaze nystagmus -- jerkiness in eye movement that becomes apparent at around .04% BAC (and a metric sometimes used by police to test sobriety). BreathalEyes is currently available for the iPhone 4 for 99 cents; an Android version is in the works.

Thursday

Fact N°
2507

Dutch designers are working on an iPad game that will be played by humans and pigs.

The "Playing With Pigs" project, a collaboration between research institutions in the Netherlands, has demonstrated an iPad concept app that involves a human touching the screen to project a ball of light on a large touchscreen in a pig pen. The pigs, drawn to the light, would then chase the ball around with their snouts. Human players would see a snout on their screens and try to move in harmony with the pigs. The pigs, if successful, are rewarded with bright, colorful stimuli. The app was precipitated by European laws, which require that pig farmers provide their intelligent livestock with toys or some other stimulating activity, reducing the animals' boredom (and therefore their aggression).

Friday

Fact N°
2508

Some people are genetically able to taste fat more acutely than others.

One common recurring myth about the tongue is that it's segmented into specific areas that detect only one taste per area (sour, sweet, bitter and salty). The segmentation theory has been known to be false for decades: It was originally based on a psychologist's mistranslation of a century-old research paper. Furthermore, there is at least one other basic taste -- "umami," the taste of glutamate -- and research now indicates that humans can taste fat as well, with their sensitivity to the taste determined by the CD36 gene (and those less sensitive to it are likely to consume more of it). The research, conducted by the Washington University School of Medicine, was published in the Journal of Lipid Research.

Saturday

Fact N°
2509

People with more difficult lives tend to be more gullible.

According to a University of Leicester study, people who had a difficult life in childhood and adolescence are actually more likely to be misled than people who'd lived sheltered lives. According to researchers, rather than toughening people up, adverse experiences actually conditioned them to distrust their own judgment (having learned to associate their decisions with negative outcomes). According to the study, 70% of the variation in peoples' gullibility is influenced in part by their past negative experiences.

Sunday

Fact N°
2506

The longer you sit at work, the more likely you are to sit when not at work.

Research at the Work and Health Research Centre at Loughborough University found, unsurprisingly, that most of the employees surveyed (70%) didn't meet guidelines for recommended physical activity. But the study also uncovered correlations between work behavior and life outside of work. Among these were that sitting on the job is associated with being sedentary in general, as well as the fact that a sedentary job correlates with an increased BMI. The study also found that time spent sitting at work correlates with a decrease in mental well-being, making the average person's six-hour workplace sit detrimental to both physical and mental health.